Also,
the legal aspect is just as important as the accounting aspect.
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Legal-Forms-Industrial-Designers/dp/1581153988
this book and the documents within is very valuable (use the docs as templates) and modify them to fit your needs.
a few pointers -
- do what you know what to do and hire professionals for the other tasks for me that was a year end accountant and lawyer
- set up a llc (it is really simple)
- Set up a separate back account under your llc so that you protect you can show your business assets are separate from your personal assets. this helps not only with accounting but from a legal standpoint
- understand what is deductible and what is not or what needs to be amortized over the years. i had 2 students who went out and spent 10,000 right before the end of the year thinking they would “write it off” and get the full 10,000 back when they filed their taxes - i.e in many states design work can be considered RD and is thus not taxed for service - but if you hand them say a physical prototype then that is taxable - unless you had someone else make the prototype and they charged you the tax. thus you can not be charged with double taxation
- look for small business grants when i started out Auto desk actually contacted me after i inquired about software and provided me a grant which was 3 software packages surface modeling / solid modeling / render package
- I can go on…
- I am free to mentor and do not charge for knowledge sharing.
- do not use pirated software! suck it up and make the investment into the software most companies dont care if you are using their software to learn… but the moment you start making money with it they will come after you… and trust me they know.